Lost In The Stars

Chapter 14*

We fear the unknown. It's the unknown that makes us forget why we're here, makes us forget who we are, what we are. It's the uncertainty of the future that scares us the most. What if the unknown was sat in front of you, all the things you feared, all the things you ignore sat in front of you? What would you do? I stretch my arm and grasp the box that's sat in front of me, the shiny surface blinding me. I take a deep breath and lift the lit and face my fears, face the ignored, face the unknown. I look in the box and see three objects starring back at me all have notes attached to them. Paper with a tiny string going through it attaching the object to my father's tidy handwriting, the neat writing covers the paper. I feel a hot tear already running down my cold face and I don't rub it away I let it fall and hit the table I'm sitting at. I reach down for the first object, my hand touches the cold metal and it's like it burned me, I smile and take a closer look at the metal. It's a chain that holds an old looking key, the top of it is in a shape of a heart the heart has a pattern in carved on it. I turn it around in my hand and on the back is my mother and father's names, I look at it from the side and it seems to open like a locket. It pops open and inside the heart is a picture of me, Todd, my mother, and father. I smile and tears are now streaming down my face. The picture was taken when we went to visit a family friend, we're stood outside in front of a pretty tree all of us smiling and laughing. Mom has her arms wrapped around Todd's 20-year-old figure as if he was still a baby and my father is looking down at an eleven-year-old me. I'm looking up at him and laughing, not really focusing on smiling at the camera that's about to take a photo of us. I hold the neckless tight in my hand and hug it close to my heart. I pull the chain over my neck and it lays on my chest the metal cold against my skin. I take the note that was laying under the neckless and read it,

I wanted you to have this neckless, to remember I'm always with you. That I'm always close to your heart however far away I am.

I laugh out loud at this because it was such a dad thing to say. One of my tears drops onto the note and I place it down on the table and pick up the next object. The tears start to stream down my face when I realize what the item is. I pick up my father's wedding ring and slide it down my fingers, I slide it down my thumb the only finger that it actually fits. I always use to steal my father's ring and run around with it on my ring finger and pretended to be married. It was our little joke.

I think you always knew I would give you this ring. Since you use to steal it all the time why not you just keep it and pass it on to your children. (Imagine me as a Grandad, god makes me sound old) Make sure they visit me and let them know that their grandad loves them loads even though he can't be there.

Whilst looking at the note I see that the writing is a little smudged on the last sentence like water was spilled on it when he was writing it. I realize that it's not water but tears, he was crying whilst writing this. I bring the note up to my lips and kiss it and whisper

"Of course, I will," I say to him as if he's standing in the room with me. The last thing in the box is an envelope with my full name on the front. I decide to save the letter for another time, a time when I need to hear his words the most. Everything goes back into the box except for the neckless and ring I'm wearing and I close the lid. I take a deep breath but it really doesn't help because I'm basically breaking down in this empty room. The emptiness is swallowing me up and I hate it. I hear the door open and then Todd's arms are around me he pulls me up and I wrap my arms around him and bawl my eyes out. My knees give up on me and he pulls me down on the floor. Me in his arms crying for my dead father, who didn't deserve to die, who shouldn't have died. Todd with his head on top of mine whispering calming words into my ear, but I know he's also crying. We're two broken people trying to pick up each other's pieces.

X

"Abigail, come on you're going to have to come out sooner or later," Todd says whilst knocking on the door.